S.F. Supervisor Calls for Hearing On KRON Sale

Edward Epstein, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PST, Wednesday, February 23, 2000

2000-02-23 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Saying he feared the loss of local control over a respected broadcasting outlet, San Francisco SupervisorMichael Yaki called yesterday for a city hearing into the sale of KRON- TV to the Young Broadcasting Co.

"I am concerned that the sale of KRON and BayTV to Young Broadcasting could result in the loss of a distinguished news source and jobs," Yaki said at the weekly Board of Supervisors meeting. "For over 50 years, San Francisco-based KRON has provided viewers throughout the Bay Area with the highest quality of news programming and the pending sale may endanger this editorial voice."

KRON is the Bay Area's NBC affiliate. But in a bit of corporate hardball, NBC, a division of the General Electric Co., has transferred its local affiliation to KNTV (Channel 11) in San Jose, which is owned by Granite Broadcasting.

Unless KNTV's signal can be improved and redirected by the time it becomes the local NBC affiliate in 2002, people in San Francisco may not be able to get NBC programming. They could get the station if they have cable if operators add the station to their lineup.

"We need to determine if a major network, regulated by the FCC, can be allowed to do this," Yaki said.

Chronicle Publishing Co. chief executive John Sias, the former president of the ABC TV network, said he does not think the city has jurisdiction over the station's sale or over NBC's choice of affiliates.

"I thought there was an FCC," he said of the federal agency that decides on the transfer of broadcasting licenses.

Sias also said the FCC's formal comment period on the KRON sale to Young has closed, so Yaki has missed his opportunity to offer his views to the commission.

Last year, Yaki was one of three supervisors who held hearings into The Chronicle's sale to the Hearst Corp. for a reported $660 million. That sale is also still awaiting federal government approval.

In the newspaper's case, the Justice Department has to approve the sale, because since 1965, The Chronicle and Examiner have operated under an antitrust exemption that gives the federal government the right to approve such a sale and Hearst's plan to close the Examiner.